I'm looking to buy a spare battery for my xe1. Amazon has 2 brands that have good reviews and cost 1/4 of a Fuji battery. Anyone here using Maxsima or ex-pro batteries? Or any other brand that you are pleased with.

Thanks,

Sorin

Hi Sorin,

not sure why you seem to think it is worth to take the risk of using non-Fuji batteries?

Here's how I reason about this:

- your investment in the X-E1 and lenses is most certainly over $1'000 (body only is $800). If your 3rd-party battery blew up (we all know that Li-ion technology is still not as perfect as everyone would like) then the Fuji warranty wouldn't cover anything.

- the Fuji battery for the X-E1 is around $55. So even if the 3rd-party battery is just 1/4th of this i.e. around $14, you'll be saving only $41. If you buy two, you'll be saving $82. And to "save" the $82 you'll be taking a risk that you are with a less safe battery, and more importantly you'll be taking the risk that if anything happens then your warranty will not cover anything. In other words you seem ready to take a risk on a precious piece of equipment, to make a "saving" of around 5% of the value of that equipment. Doesn't seem very logical to me.

- and this is even before I start with the value (emotional and potentially commercial) of the photographs taken with that camera, and which might also get lost should a 3-rd party battery blow-up.

But perhaps your logic is different - if so I'd be happy to hear it!

Here's the logic. Let's say your XE2 body+lens kit is $1300 and you're basically paying $82 for insurance when you purchase 2 OEM batteries. If by chance your battery blows in the first year, it will definitely be covered by Fuji's warranty. After the warranty runs out, that advantage is lost so your buying OEM only because you believe the quality is better. If you found a 3rd party battery of equal quality, then there is no advantage after year one.

At the current rate of Photographer's insurance $25 for every $1K (with no deductible) of coverage you're looking at $32.50 a year. That $82 savings will get you over 2 years of coverage on that $1300 camera and they'll pay you for a replacement even if you drop your camera down the stairs.

Also consider what the chances are over your lifetime of a faulty battery destroying your camera and lens knowing that even OEM batteries can fail you. The risk of that is very very low and if it does happen to you, we're talking maybe once? Let's say that over the course of 30 years you buy 15 higher quality cameras at an average of $1300 a pop and you pick up a pair of OEM batteries for an extra $82 for each camera. That additional cost will easily pay for a replacement camera if in the rare event a battery does destroy your camera. If you're like most people, your worst battery experience will be a DOA cell and you'll have an extra $1216 in your pocket. Or you could keep your gear insured the whole time and have a couple bills left over.

If your anything like me, you picked up 4 or 5 spare batteries for each camera so the savings would be substantially higher. No matter which way you look at it, paying $82 for insurance for only one part of your camera simply doesn't make much sense. It's like paying twice the price for full coverage on your car, but only insuring the driver's side front fender.